What is the value of a human life? You may be thinking that this article is going to reflect on the lives of 3rd world people, but not for now. I am asking about the lives of people like you, me and the person you last spoke to earlier today. Life, in actuality, is time. Minutes, hours, days and years. That is life. We trade those hours for something in return, don't we? Everyday, for most of our lives, we show up at a job and trade those hours there for money. You have a job, an occupation, a career but actually what you are doing is trading pieces of your life, for whatever compensation is afforded to you. Is an hour of your life worth $20? $50? Maybe $200? If you are at the end of your life, maybe you would be willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars for the transplant that would extend your life a few more years. If you were kidnapped, how much would anyone be willing to pay for ransom in exchange for your life? Curious questions, I'll admit, but I have been considering what we do with this stuff we call Life.Frankly, I have to say that watching how people spend their time, scares the hell out of me. It never did before my transformation from a hedonist to a humanitarian. Somewhere around age forty I considered all the time and money I spent trying to make myself happy and satisfied. Success and recognition eventually came to me but at what price? My Life. Fifteen hour days to prove my worth to a boss who took my daily result calls at his poolside. Hours in bumper to bumper traffic for to get to that next appointment as my son sat home alone yet another night making his own dinner and putting himself to bed. Success was measured in dollars that bought cars, houses, vacations and investments to secure a future. I traded my Life for stuff. I traded the irreplaceable with things made of metal, brick, alcohol and wood. I traded my life, hour by hour and by age forty, I had a hard time understanding what was the benefit to myself, my family or in a broader scope, society as a whole. There was no real meaning or purpose except to chase the elusive notion of success, spelling that money, which somehow indicated some abstract sense of security. Security? Really? At the end of it all doesn't the billionaire lay down in the same size hole as the janitor? What is left behind? What value was the life of a hedonist to anyone but himself? The person who steps past the homeless guy, looks away from the line at the soup kitchen and changes the channel when the starving African children commercial comes on, accepts being soulless. Not his problem. Can't feed the world, don't you know? How do you add value to your Life? Whether you are a wage slave making enough to just get by, paycheck to paycheck, or you are living in the lap of luxury, does not matter. Life must have value to make it worth living. That can not be calculated in Dollars or Euros or Yen or stuff. Without making more money, how can your Life be more valuable, to your family, to others around you, and don't call me crazy, but to the piece of the world that you can touch? How do you become a better, more valuable and ultimately happier human being? It is not in making more money that is for sure. Consider those who "Had it all" such as the Beatles. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were interviewed in the early 1960s about their goals. Quickly, they admitted they wanted to be rich. In later interviews they expressed their disappointment, having become worth hundreds of millions of Pounds, that they found no satisfaction in the wealth they achieved and had sought after for so long. Steven Jobs, as he lay on his deathbed, told his family, and the world, that the billions that he gained afforded him obvious comfort in life but he lacked the joy in life that he so desperately wanted. Actor Jim Carrey said “I wish everybody could get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.” George Carlin shared his view of materialism this way, "Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body." Value as a human being is what is important. The clock keeps ticking and whether you have an hour to live or sixty more years, you have to make it count. What I have learned living in Peru's high Andes and working with disadvantaged children is that my life has value, meaning and purpose. Most importantly, I could not purchase this, I could not order it on Amazon. Whether you live in a castle or a grass hut, what you are to those around you, how you add value to their existence and their own sense of value, becomes the contagious and beautiful purpose of Life. I could give a Lexus to a poor person and they'd still be poor. I could share opportunities and compassion with them and wealth becomes abundant. A backpack of school supplies, vitamin supplements, warm clothing and a child is ready to take on the world. Are you ready to add value to the hours of your Life? This article was first published in the Changes for New Hope Humanitarian Awards Magazine..January 2018 Vol, 2 issue 2 Learn more at Issuu.com